Direct and Indirect Memory Measures of Temporal Order: Younger versus Older Adults

Abstract

The memory changes associated with age are attributed to the deterioration of the frontal lobes, as well as to the middle temporal structures. Therefore, in addition to a decline in memory for facts and events, as found impaired in amnesics, a memory decline associated with age is predicted for tasks typically found impaired in frontal lobe patients (i.e., temporal order judgment). There are conflicting findings concerning whether indirect measures of memory for facts and events are associated with age. However, there are no studies that address this issue with regard to temporal order judgment. Thirty younger and thirty older adults were tested on a list of words which was repeated five times in fixed or varying order. The number of words recalled, as well as their temporal judgments, were the direct measure of memory. The effect of consistency of order of presentation on the number of words recalled was the indirect measure of memory for temporal order. Results suggest that direct, but not the indirect measures of memory were related to age.